The era commonly known as Early Modern Warfare began in the mid-15th century and lasted until the late 18th century. The widespread use of gunpowder along with weapons designed to use it dramatically changed methods of warfare.

China had been using gunpowder for centuries before European countries started using it. Cannons were the first common weapons to use gunpowder. But at the time, all guns that used gunpowder were generally large, very heavy, required many men to deploy, and were unwieldy, to say the least. Cannons first appeared in Europe in the late Middle Ages and their main use was to attack castles. The development of the siege cannon quickly made the use of castles and their high walls obsolete as the main defense. The siege cannon meant that the attacker was now favored to be the ultimate winner of the battle. As a result, the character of the defensive position had to be changed. The high castle walls gave way to sloping walls. These sloped walls would deflect cannon fire and allow the main defense mechanism, the wall itself, to remain intact. Castles with their tall and relatively thin walls became obsolete as a defense tool.

Castles gave way to fortresses. These fortresses were built with thick sloping walls. To defend themselves, the cities had to spend a great deal of money to build the new fortresses. These fortresses, with their ability to withstand cannon fire, brought back the siege as the primary tactic for attacking a position.

A siege is the assault on a city or fortress with the intention of winning through attrition, a more modern term is a blockade. When an attacker could not bring the city or fortress to surrender and realized that a direct frontal attack would not succeed, he resorted to the siege tactic. A siege usually meant that the attackers would surround the objective, be it the city or a fortress with the intention of blocking supplies and provisions from entering the inhabitants.

Common siege tactics were

1. Mining or extraction

Mining or extraction involved digging a tunnel under the walls of the castle or fortress. The mines would have walls reinforced with wood for support. Once completed, the attackers filled the mine with flammable materials and set it on fire. Later, with the use of gunpowder, the mines would be filled with explosives, which meant a much more effective use of “sapping or mining”. The purpose of the excavation or mining was to break down the wall above the mine and allow an entry point for attackers.

2. Artillery bombardment. Using everything imaginable to jump the fortress or castle wall and deal damage.

3. The use of seat motors.

There are many types of seat motors. The general categories are ballista, battering ram, catapult, hellepolis, mangonel, onager, siege tower, and trebuchet.

Ballista – This is a powerful weapon that resembles a giant crossbow. The purpose of the crossbow was to launch heavy arrows. He could shoot the arrows one at a time or in groups. The ballista is also known as a bolt launcher. In earlier times, the Romans used the ballista to shoot large stones, but during the Middle Ages the ballista was modified to shoot arrows, which at the time were known as bolts. The crossbow is believed to have been inspired by early ballistae. The crossbow was made of wood and used animal sinew as a rope or string. Winches were used to pull back (hammer) the ballista.

ballista: The crossbow was a very accurate weapon when shooting bolts (arrows), but accuracy came at the expense of range. The first known use of a ballista was in Italy in 400 BC. C. The catapult was a natural evolution of the ballista.

battery ram: Battering rams are devices used to break through fortification walls or gates. They have been in use since ancient times. The simplest form of a battering ram is a large heavy log carried by several attackers to hit the gate or wall of the fortress or castle. The goal is to do enough damage to the wall or door to allow attackers to enter.

A more efficient design of the ram was to use a wheeled frame to transport it. The ram was suspended by ropes or chains, allowing the ram to be much larger and swing more easily. The sides and roofs of this improved type of ram were sometimes covered with protective materials to prevent fire and to protect attackers.

Some battering rams were not suspended by ropes or chains, but instead sat on rollers. This would allow the ram to gain a much higher speed and thus deal much more damage. The writer Vitruvius described this type of rolling ram as being used by Alexander the Great.

To defend against a battering ram, defenders would either drop obstacles in front of the battering ram or use grappling hooks to immobilize the battering ram or set fire to the battering ram and/or its structure. Another defense was to simply launch an attack at the ram as it approached them.

The use of battering rams dates back to the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Rome. They were also used during the Crusades.

Catapult: A catapult is a type of siege engine used to launch a long-range projectile. Catapults were not weapons that attackers carried with them into battle, and were usually built on the spot of battle. They are made of wood and were abundant on most battlefields.

The differentiation of the different types of catapults comes from the way they used to store and release their energy.

The first type of catapult was a variation of the Roman crossbow. These used ropes or animal tendons to launch the objects. The cord or sinew was pulled back under tension and when the tension was released, the energy carried the projectile. So if the catapult stored and released the energy through tension, it is considered a tensional catapult.

Another type of catapult is the torsion catapult. These have an arm with a bucket, cup, or sling to hold the projectile. The force is transferred to the sling through the use of a rope at the other end of the launch arm. These strings are positioned and tightened to “charge” the catapult with torque energy.

Helepolis: This is an ancient type of siege engine and was known as the Taker of Cities. It was invented by Demetrius Poliorcetes for use during the Siege of Salamis in Cyprus.

The shape of the original Helepolis was a tall square tower that stood on four wheels. The helépolis was internally divided into nine different floors. The lower floors had machines used to launch projectiles (large stones). The central section contained catapults to launch darts (large spears). The upper section was used to launch smaller stones and smaller catapults. The hellepolis was manned by two hundred soldiers and was propelled via a large drive belt and wheel inside the hellepolis. The soldiers could propel the hellepolis from the inside without having to take direct fire from the defenders.

Mangonel: This type of siege engine is a type of catapult used to launch projectiles at castle walls. The mangonel could launch projectiles at great distances (1300 feet). This is a much longer distance than the trebuchet, which was invented later. The mangonel was not very accurate and launched the projectiles at a much lower angle than the catapult.

The mangonel was a torsion-arm catapult that used a sling to hold the projectile. Energy was stored by twisting ropes or sinews.

In battle, the mangonels would throw rocks, burning objects, or anything else the attackers could think of. Containers filled with flammable materials were popular and created a large ball of fire on impact.

Onager: The onager is a type of torsion catapult. Torsion energy is stored by twisting the strings. The release of the energy provided a type of kicking action and hence the name onager meaning wild ass.

The construction of the onager was quite simple. It consisted of a frame that remained on the ground. The front of the frame had a solid wood vertical frame attached to it. The vertical frame had a spindle running through it with a single large spoke protruding from it.

In battle, the spoke was pulled down through the use of twisted ropes or lowered with a winch to store the energy. When the energy was released, the bolt violently struck the crossbar of the vertical frame and the projectile was shot forward.

A variation of the onager is the mangonel. The mangonel used a bowl to hold the projectile instead of the sling and was less powerful than the onager.

Headquarters tower: This is a specialized siege engine used to protect attackers as they approach fortress or castle walls. They were often rectangular in shape and sat on four wheels. They were built to a height of about the height of the wall, and sometimes even higher. When built higher than the wall, the siege tower allowed archers to shoot at the castle or fortress.

These were heavy and difficult to maneuver and were usually built on the site of battle. They took a long time to build and were mainly used when all other types of siege tactics had failed, such as mining or direct ladder assault.

Its large size made it an easy target for defending guns on approach.

If the siege tower was successful, the last thing to do was to place planes between the tower and the wall to allow attackers to enter the fortress or castle.

The result of a siege falls into one of four categories:

1. If the defenders repelled the attackers without the help of external forces, the position is considered to have been “held”.

2. If the defenders repelled the attackers with the help of external forces, the position is considered to have been “relieved” or “elevated”.

3. If the attackers manage to take the fortress, castle or town, but the defensive forces manage to escape, the position is considered to have been “evacuated”.

4. If the attackers manage to take the fortress, castle or city and also destroy and/or capture the defenders, the besieged entity is considered to have “fallen”.